Harry Potter and the Power of Four
by BuffySummers168
Summary: An AU story set in the normal Hogwarts timeline. Hermione is about to find out some things that will change her life and the wizarding world as she knows it.
1. A Trip to Diagon Alley

_AN:  Hi!  Welcome to my first ever Hr/D fanfiction.  A few comments need to be made before you continue reading this.  _

_1.  I'm considering this an AU fic, even though it is set in the HP timeline that JKR has created.  This is for several reasons, the most important being that I believe any Hr/D fanfiction has to be AU considering it's not going to happen in the real books. _

_2.  Most of the information in this fanfiction is going to be kept as close to the original book series as I can in most areas except a few, which include the backgrounds of four characters.  You will see this later on. _

_3. Lastly, everything that you recognize of course belongs to JKR.  I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself during class instead of paying attention like the good college student I pretend to be.  _

**Well, without further ado, I bring you _Harry Potter and the Power of Four_**

Hermione Granger was bored .  After completing all of her summer assignments and checking them over three times, she had come to this conclusion.  She was really bored.  She thought about going to Diagon Alley to get her new books for the next term, but that idea had two problems.  One, she hadn't received her supply list yet, although it should be coming any time now, and two, it had become tradition for her to meet up with Harry and Ron so that they could get their supplies together.  Therefore, she just had to find something better to do.

  '_Well,' she decided to herself, __'just because I can't get my supplies, doesn't mean I can't go find a good book to read.' _

 With that, she raced down the stairs to begin the long process of begging her mom to take her to Diagon Alley.__

            Just thirty minutes later, '_a new personal record'_ she noted to herself, she was upstairs looking for her money purse and robes in preparation for shopping in the wizarding world.  After she found all that she needed, she stopped in front of her vanity mirror to brush her hair.  Smiling to herself after she finished, she admitted that she was finally happy with her appearance.  It had never bothered her much in her younger years, but as all children eventually do, she grew up, and with that came the subconscious urge to worry more about her looks than she had before.  With a critical eye, she started at the top with her face and hair.  It was usually still as frizzy as ever, but this year the sun had kissed it with a slight golden color, and the weight of its mid-back length pulled it down nicely into springy curls.  Going lower, she was happy to see that she was beginning to fill out her clothes in what her mother loved to call "womanly ways".  It never failed to make Hermione roll her eyes every time she heard that phrase.  On that note, she pulled her robes on over her regular clothes, and headed down to the car waiting for her outside her house.  

            A short drive later, Hermione noticed they had pulled up beside the familiar entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.

  "I'll be back in about 3 hours dear, do you think that will be enough time?" Her mother asked her.  She nodded her head in consent.  "Alright then, I'll see you around noon then."  With that, she pulled away from the curb and disappeared down the street. 

Hermione turned around and made her way into the pub that had become her doorway into the world she loved so much.  A bit of a walk and a few taps later, she was standing in the middle of the busy streets of Diagon Alley.  Smiling to herself, she admitted that she never felt quite as at home as she did in the middle of the wizard world.  She lazily made her way towards Flourish and Blots, knowing she had a good bit of time to kill.  Not paying attention to where she was going, she accidentally walked into someone, knocking them flat on their back.  She immediately reached down to help them up, apologizing profusely.  "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize…"  She stopped however when she realized who it was.  "No, I take it back, I'm not sorry."  Of course, Draco Malfoy had to pick this day out of all the others to come to Diagon Alley as well.  Looking at him, she almost took back her mean comment when she saw what she thought was a hurt look upon his face, but she shook the thought out of her head, and walked away from him, leaving him laying in the middle of the busy street.  Draco pulled himself off the ground, brushing his clothes off as he went.  "Guess I deserved that one."  He muttered to himself.  Continuing in the direction he had been heading before he had been so rudely ran into, he made his way to the room he had recently rented at the Leaky Cauldron.

            Once there at Flourish and Blotts, Hermione realized that she needed to refill her money purse before she could do any shopping.  Usually one of her parents had it ready for her, but this time they must not have realized how low it had gotten.  So, she made her way through the crowded street to get to Gringotts.  

She walked up to the goblin at the desk and said, "I'd like to make a withdrawal."  "Name?"  he asked.  "Hermione…."  she began, but was interrupted him.  "Ah yes, we've been waiting for you."  He looked throughout his books and then spoke again.  "Hermione Prewett, listed here with a note to hold her key here until she comes to claim it.  It's been sitting here for quite some time now….15 years I'd say.  Finally here to claim it then, Miss?"  Hermione had to think fast.  Hermione Prewett had to be the only Hermione on the list, otherwise he wouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that.  Should she take it?  She made her decision.  "Yes, thank you."  She said, in what she hoped was a convincing voice.  "Very well," the goblin said "I'll have someone take you down.  Here's your key." 

After riding in the cart for what seemed like only seconds, it stopped abruptly and the Goblin hopped out.  "Here we are, vault 143.  Key please."  The goblin placed the key in it's slot, and opened up the vault for Hermione to see.  Right in the middle of the vault, was a stack of Galleons taller than herself.  Shelves lined the walls and were filled with artifacts and hundreds of books.  Trying to seem as if she knew what was in here all along, she casually filled her bag with galleons, and threw a few of the closest books in her book bag.  Turning, she smiled at the goblin.  "Ok, I'm ready."   With that, they made their way back to the surface.  Flourish and Blotts long forgotten, she turned back towards the Leaky Cauldron to find a booth so she could sit down and look at the books that she grabbed.  After ordering a butterbeer, she began pulling  the books out of her bag.  In total, she had been able to grab five of them.  Two of them seemed to be textbooks of some kind, one looked like a diary or journal, and the last two looked to be photo albums.  

On closer inspection however, she realized the last one was actually a yearbook.  She opened this one first.  She was greeted on the foremost page by a moving version of the Hogwarts crest.  '_Well, definitely a Hogwarts yearbook then.'  She thought to herself.  The next pages held photos of the professors at the time.  Dumbledore was among them, as well as McGonagall, although they both looked a great deal younger.  Finally, she got to the page that announced "Class of 1978".  With a deep breath, she turned the page.  Smiling out at her, was a group picture of the Gryffindor 7th years.  Surprisingly, she could pick out the faces of Harry's parents James and Lily, as well as the faces of what looked to be a younger Sirius and Remus.  Next were the Ravenclaws.  While she didn't recognize any of the faces, she did recognize the name Prewett that the Gringott goblin had said.  Erik Prewett smiled up at her from his picture on the page, next to a beautiful girl she didn't know the name of.  She didn't get any farther however as a voice interrupted her inspection of the pages.  "Hello, Granger, mind if I sit here?"  Looking up, she saw the face of Draco Malfoy.  "Yes, Malfoy, I do.  Don't let that stop you however, I'm leaving."  Gathering up the books from the table, she started to walk away.  "Granger!"  She slowly turned around to look at him.  "Forget something?"  In his hand he held the yearbook she had been looking at.  Rushing back, she ripped it out of his hand, turned, and walked out of the Leaky Cauldron.  Draco shook his head and sat down in the now empty booth.  "Women."  He said, shaking his head once more.  _

            Hermione only had to wait outside for a few minutes before she saw her mom coming down the street.  Opening the passenger side door, she got in the car, her mind full of questions that she wasn't sure she wanted answered.  

_Next Chapter:  Hermione questions her parents about her heritage, and we find out why Malfoy needs a room at the Leaky Cauldron._

_Additional AN:  If anyone is interesting in being my beta, let me know.  I prefer to have someone read over my stories before I post them.  _


	2. Questions with unwanted answers

_AN:  I know I promised I'd get to Draco in this chapter, but Hermione ended up taking up so much room, that I thought it best to split them up into two separate ones.  Draco is in chapter 3, I promise!  Also, I'm still hoping for a beta reader, because I usually write chapters at like 3 in the morning, and you'd be amazed at how little sense I make at times like that…_

Emma Granger noticed the change in her daughter's attitude the moment she stepped into the car.  

"You alright dear?", she asked.  She was always afraid that the time had come, and her daughter had somehow found out about…

"No mum, I'm fine.  Just a bit tired from walking around all day I suppose."

Once again, relief fluttered through Emma's body as she thought she dodged the proverbial bullet once more.  The car was filled with silence yet again as both women were left to their own thoughts.  

Once home, Hermione feigned tiredness in order to get a better look at the books she had taken from the vault.  This time, she opened the journal.

            _September 1, 1977___

_                        Hello Diary!  It's hard to believe that I've started my 7th and final year here at Hogwarts. The time has flown by so fast!  The Head Boy and Girl were named tonight…it was Lily and James!  I some how knew they would be the ones to get it.  Well, I'll write more tomorrow, I've got to run right now.  Erik is begging me to go with him to the library to start on his homework for the term.  Honestly!  We haven't even been assigned any yet!_

_                                                                                                                                    FHD._

Hermione skipped ahead a few entries until she came to one that was marked the day after Christmas.

            _December 26, 1977___

_                        Happy Christmas diary!  You'll never guess what happened to me tonight…my best friend   Erik Prewett KISSED me!  We were in the library (what else is new, this is Erik we're talking about) doing our homework that was assigned for over break, when Lucius Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe, Goyle, and Snape walked over to us to see what kind of trouble they could cause.  I don't think under normal circumstances they would have ever bothered us, but since we're such good friends with Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus, they make it a personal vendetta to track us down and torment us.  I've never been worried though, Lucius may talk big, but he's never done anything to support his words. Anyhow, after making some rude comments about the superiority of his family to all others, he purposely bumped into our table, causing my inkpot to spill all over the essay I had spent hours working on!  Erik jumped up, ready to fight with Lucius, but the librarian got there first and told them to either find a book, or leave.  After they left, I picked up my sopping wet essay, and threw it             away.  Once back at our table, I began putting my books back in my bag.  "Where are you going?" Erik asked me.  I explained to him that I just couldn't start over on my essay tonight after doing so much wasted work on it.  He said he understood and offered to walk me back to our common room,   saying he was tired as well.  After we got back, I started to head up to my room.  Before I got to         the stairwell however, Erik called out my name, asking me to come back for a moment.  When            I did, he pulled me into his arms for the most passionate kiss I've ever had in my life!  Before I had a chance to respond however, he pulled away, and whispered in my ear "Don't hold back when Malfoy riles you up…your feistiness is what I love most about you."  Then, he just walked away up the stairs and into his room.  WAIT A SECOND…he LOVES about me??  Excuse me diary, I have a fellow Ravenclaw to track down._

_                                                                                                                        FHD._

_'Well'_ , thought Hermione, now I have enough information to try and figure out who this is.  She pulled out the yearbook again, and flipped to the 7th year Ravenclaws, opening once again to the section that held the picture of Erik Prewett.  Flipping a page or two back, she found the section of people who's last names begin with 'D'.  The only girl who's name matched the initials FHD was someone named Fae Hermione Dupriest.  Noticing her picture, she realized it was the same girl that Erik Prewett had has his arm around in the group shot of the Ravenclaws.  _'Now that I've got a face to put to the name, I think I'll read some more about this girl and Hogwarts'_  So, skipping ahead a few more pages, she read an entry from the beginning of February. 

            _February 3, 1978___

_                        A lot of weird things have been happening around here lately.  First off, Narcissa Pierrot broke up with her boyfriend of three years Sirius Black.  He was of course devastated, but she acted like nothing even happened!  What's even stranger then that, was that he found her the very next day snogging Lucius Malfoy!  Also, she's started hanging out with their "group" , completely ignoring all of us, her friends of seven years! Then, in potions today, our professor decided to pair us up in class.  I got put with Severus Snape, which I didn't mind too much because he's an ok person when he's not hanging out with Lucius's gang.  Everything was going fine until he stirred a little too hard and splashed some of the potion onto the sleeve of his robe.  I reached over to try to help, because the fabric was quickly disintegrating.  I could have sworn I saw a tattoo of some sort under the sleeve, but he _

_covered__ it up with his other hand and ran out of the room before I could get a better look.  What would have him so frightened?  Well, I'm too tired to sort this all out now, so I'll just have to worry about it another time.  Goodnight!_

_                                                                                                                                    FHD._

Hermione knew about Snape's involvement with the Deatheaters, seeing as Harry told her about how he found out about Snape being a spy for Dumbledore.  She assumed that he had probably just recently been initiated into Voldemort's ranks at the time this entry was written.  Looking up at her clock, she realized that she'd been reading well into the afternoon.  She decided she'd choose one more entry, and then head downstairs for supper.  

            _June 14, 1978__,_

_                        We made it!  Today was our graduation day, the day we've been working towards since our first day of classes seven years ago.  Believe it or not, however, graduation pales in comparison to what happened to me afterwards.  I'm engaged!  After the celebratory feast in the great hall, Erik asked me to walk with him around the lake.  Once we got to the other side,            he dropped down to one knee and asked me!  He made this beautiful speech about how you-know-who was becoming more powerful, and he didn't want to waste another moment of his life without me by his side.  I of course said yes right away.  I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else besides him.  I can just see our future now…marriage, a house together,       all our friends bringing their children over to play with ours.  I'm so in love!_

_                                                                                                                                    FHD._

Not being able to wait until after supper, Hermione flipped to the last entry in the book.  She hoped the girl got the happiness she dreamed of.  

            _October 30, 1981__,_

_                        Lily and James Potter went into hiding today.  Erik keeps telling me we should do the same, but I can't believe that we would be in as much danger as they are.  However, I know he's always right, so tomorrow we're going to Albus to have him perform the same charm for us that he did for them. On a happier note,  I finally went and had the pictures  from Hermione and little Harry's birthday party magically developed today.  It still amazes me even a year later that we managed to have our babies on the same day!  I'll have to remember to owl the doubles to Lily tomorrow.  I'm sure she'll get as much of a kick as I did at seeing our little Hermione shoving cake in the face of a grinning Harry.  I know our kids are going to grow up to be the best of friends!  Uh oh, I hear some yelling downstairs, what could Erik be up to this time?  Until next time Diary…_

_                                                                                                                        FHP._

After reading this, Hermione let out a breath that she hadn't even realized she had been holding.  '_I don't even know what I was thinking…this person couldn't be my mother.  I'm just around Harry too much.  Everything is NOT a conspiracy, no matter what he thinks.  Besides, this baby was born the same day he was, and my birthday is in September._'  She also sadly noted that Lily would never get to see those pictures, because Harry became famous that very next night by defeating Voldemort with his mother's love for him.  Hearing her own mother call her down for supper, she grabbed the journal and took it with her.  There was no point in hiding it from her, now that she was sure it wasn't about her.  She'd also have to take the key back to Gringotts and explain the mix up some how.  The real Hermione might come looking for it some day.  

Walking into the kitchen, she greeted her mother.  

"Hey mum, smells great!" 

Her mother looked at her and smiled.  "Thanks dear…would you mind setting the table?"  

Hermione set the diary on the counter and started getting plates out.  

Seeing a book on the counter, Emma Granger smiled good-naturedly at her daughter.  She always had her nose in a book, something her and her husband never had time to do.  

"Reading a new book dear?"  she asked, always trying to keep interested in her daughter's life, seeing as she was only around a few times a year since being accepted to Hogwarts.

"Actually mum, its something I picked up at Diagon Alley by mistake…it's a Diary of some girl named Fae Prewett."

Hermione jumped as her mother dropped the plate she had been holding in her hands.

"F..Fae Prewett you say?"  "Yeah mum why?  You look as if you've seen a ghost!"

Emma didn't answer.  The day had finally come, and she was going to lose her baby girl because of it.  She walked over to the phone to call her husband to tell him to come home from work right away.  Then, turning to Hermione, she began what was going to be the hardest thing to say in her entire life.

"Hermione dear, sit down please.  When your father gets home, we need to tell you something we should have told you a long time ago."

With a ball of dread settling in her stomach, Hermione thought to herself, _'sometimes in life I get the feeling that some questions are better left un-asked'_

Read and Review please :)  Let me know what you think.  


	3. A bit of History

_AN:  Draco time!   I know this chapter's a bit long, but there was a lot of background that needs to be covered.  There's even more that I haven't gotten to yet, but all in good time :)  Until then, read, enjoy, and review to tell me what you think!_

_Previously: "Granger!"  She slowly turned around to look at him.  "Forget something?"  In his hand he held the yearbook she had been looking at.  Rushing back, she ripped it out of his hand, turned, and walked out of the Leaky Cauldron.  Draco shook his head and sat down in the now empty booth.  "Women."  He said, shaking his head once more.  _

After savoring the Butter beer he had ordered, he slowly made his way up to his room, where he knew an owl from his father would be waiting to take the latest report back to him.  '_damn girl was gonna make this hard for me.'  _he thought to himself, as he composed in his head what he could tell his father this time.  Sitting down at his desk, he began the letter.

_Father,_

_            I made contact with the girl today, although as I said she would be, she was extremely hostile.  Do not worry though, because I will not fail in this mission our Dark Lord has given us.  I probably won't get another chance to reach her again until she, Potter, and Weasley come to get their books for school, without making myself seem suspicious.  Until then, Father, I remain faithfully in the Dark Lord's service, as well as your own. _

_                                                                                                            Your Son,_

_                                                                                                                        D. L. Malfoy_

Content with the fact that the letter sounded loyal enough, he sent it off with the eagle-owl that his father had waiting for him.  Lying back on his bed, he decided that he was well deserving of a nap, after having to traipse all over Diagon Alley all morning just in hopes of a glimpse of that damned girl so that he could write his father with some good news for once.  Rolling over in discomfort, he once more cursed his luck for having to agree to go along with this stupid plan of Voldemorts.  His father promised however, that it would be well worth it in the end.  With a self-satisfied smile on his face at that thought, he drifted into sleep.

_~~~Draco looked around him, but all he could see was mist.  Suddenly, it started to clear, and he could tell he was in the beginnings of a village of some sort.  Coming upon a gate, he looked at a sign that seemed to be barely held on by its last bolt.  It read "Godric's Hollow".  'Never been here.' Draco noted to himself.  As he strolled up the path that led into the village, he noticed that the haze that had been all over the place had taken on a green tinge.  Then, as he got to the top of the hill, he could see all the houses in the village.  With a gasp, he noticed that three of them, in seemingly random order, had the dark mark hovering over top of them.  He saw someone come out of one of the other houses, so he ran up to them to see if they knew what happened.  _

_"Sir!  Sir!", he yelled, but got no answer.  He went to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention, but his hand went right through him.  'Well that's not right' he thought to himself.  'I guess it's safe to assume that I'm dreaming now'.  Seemingly without his consent, his feet started taking him towards the closest house with the mark over it.  He floated through the walls into the room where the murder had apparently happened.  He noticed it was an older couple, probably old enough to be someone's grandparents.  They had died in each other's arms, cowered together on the couch.  Before he could make any other observations about the scene, however, he was whipped through his dream, and found himself in the downstairs of what he assumed was another of the houses.  On the floor, lay a man, his wand in hand.  He looked to only be about 19 or 20, maybe 2 years older than Draco himself was right now.  Looking around, he saw books lined along every available space on the walls and desks.  'Looks like a place Granger would live' he mused to himself.  Then, he heard the sound of a baby crying.  Slowly walking up the stairs, he made his way into the room where he assumed it was coming from.  It was a nursery, done up in pale pastel colors.  In the middle of the crib, stood a tiny little girl, who looked extremely unhappy about being left alone.  Knowing he couldn't do anything for her, even if he had wanted to, he made his way out of her room and into the one directly across from it.  'More books', he noticed, taking in what looked to be a study/bedroom kind of room.  On the desk he noticed some magical pictures were moving.  Bending over to take a quick look, he noticed they were from what seemed like a child's birthday party.  The one on top was of what seemed like the little girl he had seen earlier smashing cake into a little boys face.  'Cute', Draco said to himself.  Turning around, he noticed for the first time the woman lying on the floor.  Seeing the look of peacefulness on her face, he assumed she had been caught unawares.  She had long, wavy brown hair and beautiful cinnamon coloured eyes.  Before he could notice much more then that, he was once again pulled away against his will to what he assumed to be the last of the three houses.  Right away, he saw the man's body out on the front lawn.  He had messy black hair and glasses on.  He, however, had a determined look on his face, even in death, so Draco could only assume that he had tried to fight back against Voldemort.  'Brave thought, but an ultimately stupid move'.  Making his way upstairs, he could hear voices arguing with each other, definitely male and female.  Once at the top of the stairs, he could see a red-headed woman holding a baby to her chest.  She was begging with the man in the dark robes to spare her son's life it seemed.  He couldn't hear the man's reply very well; all he could make out was something about the boy being "What brings the four together" or something to that effect.  Saying once again that he couldn't kill her baby, Draco heard the beginnings of the killing curse.  "AVEDA…"  With this, the woman turned her back, covering her baby with her body, trying vainly to protect him.  A second later and she was dead, the baby rolling out of his mother's arms giggling, obviously thinking she was playing some kind of game.  Draco could see Voldemort aiming his wand at the babies head, and he instantly wondered, 'why didn't he bother killing the other baby, but he's going to kill this one?  Poor kid, too young to even realize what's going to happen'  However, before he could feel bad for the kid, the spell backfired, sending a brilliant white light shooting back at Voldemort.  Feeling a sudden awareness, Draco knew immediately whose house he was standing in.  The man on the front lawn had been Harry Potter's father, and the women he had just seen sacrifice her life, had been Harry's mother.  To further justify this claim, Draco saw a bright red lightning-bolt shaped scar form on the little babies head.  Getting a better look, he realized this was the same baby from the picture he had seen on the desk in the other house.  'How is this all connected?' Draco wondered to himself, knowing that he was missing some important detail he was supposed to get from seeing all of this in his dreams.~~~ _

_ Before he could mull over this any more however, he was awakened out of his dream by a loud tapping at the window.  Opening his eyes at the rude invasion, he saw what he knew to be his father's owl once again.  _'Damn it father, I sent you my progress report for today…what the bloody hell could you want now?'_  Taking the letter from the owl, and feeding it a bit of bread, he opened it._

_Draco, _

_            We have gotten news that the Dark Lord has chosen your initiation date.  He has decided that you will join his ranks over Christmas break this year.  That means don't do anything until then to screw this up, or you will be sorry!  Make sure you complete your task with that damned Mudblood before then._

_                                                                                                             Lucius Malfoy._

Rolling his eyes at what his father thought was a 'friendly' letter, Draco decided it was about time to get up and go find something to eat.  He kept thinking there was something to figure out…something he had dreamed that he wanted to think about, but for the life of him he couldn't even remember what his dream had been about.  _'Oh well, couldn't have been too important then.'  Giving one last glance at his bed in contemplation, he walked out of the room and shut the door._

~~_Meanwhile, at Hermione's~~_

Hermione had tried numerous times to get her mom to say something else about what it was she had to tell her, but the only answer she kept getting was "we have to wait for your father, he should be home soon." After what seemed to be an eternity, but was actually only about 20 minutes, Hermione's father Richard Granger walked in the door.  Seeing his wife with tears in her eyes, and his daughter with a fearful look in hers, he knew that it had really happened.  The time had come for Hermione to learn about her true heritage.  Taking off his jacket, he sat down in front of his wife and child, and pulled them each into a hug.  _"It's going to be ok" he whispered in his wife's ear, praying to all the deities he knew that he was right.  Pulling away from them both, he looked Hermione in the eye._

"First off dear, there's something you need to know."  

Hermione encouraged him to continue with a small smile.

"Well, I'm a squib."

Silence

Hermione's jaw dropped and her mind began working a mile a minute.  A squib?  All this time there actually WAS some magic in her family line?  She wasn't a mudblood after all?

"There's more, dear.  Not only that, but I'm unable to have children."

Hermione laughed, and then began talking to him as if he were a child.  "That's silly daddy, how could you be unable to have children if I'm here?  That would mean I'd have to be…"  She stopped, realizing what her father was trying to imply.  "You mean I…I'm…adopted?"

He shook his head mournfully, only guessing at what could be going through her head at this time.  

"Why me?"  she asked.  "Why adopt a magical child when you can't do magic yourself?"

"It's complicated, dear.  A lot has to be explained before you'll understand how this all happened.  A lot of things you thought you knew to be true about yourself and about us are going to be changed tonight dear.  Are you feeling up to it, or do you need a night to process all this new information?"  

"No dad, continue.  I need to hear this now."

"Very well.  First of all, this doesn't involve only you.  It involves you and three other children your age.  One of them is your friend, Harry.  We don't know the other two, because the names were not told to us so as to protect the other children if something should…happen….to us.  The only reason we know about Harry, is because EVERYONE knows about Harry.  Before all of that, however, maybe I should tell you the little bit I know about this whole thing.  As you know, the four founders of Hogwarts were Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin.  Contrary to popular belief, they got along perfectly well with each other, united by the common goal of teaching all magical people how to hone their talents.  Helga was the group's seer.  She would get brief glimpses into the future to help them to prepare to fight the evil that was coming.  One day, she got a vision from our time...hundreds of years past their own time of existence.  Knowing that it was the ultimate evil, the one that would end wizards and muggles alike in its single minded vision to rule, she went to the other three to try to come up with a solution to this terrible problem.  They came up with what only a select few wizards know of today as the "Power of the Four".  Basically, they cast a very powerful spell that passed their powers down through every generation.  Now supposedly, when this great evil would be at the height of its power, four babies would be born into this world on the same day, imbued with the powers of those four wizards and witches."

Hermione interrupted at this point.  "But dad, how can this involve me?  My birthday is in September, while Harry's is in July."  

"I'm sorry dear, but that's one of the lies we had to construct to keep you safe.  You see, while you and the two other babies were spared, Harry was attacked because it was known that he would be the main power…the power that would ignite the three others.  After Voldemort was defeated by Harry and his mother's love, the other three babies were hidden throughout Europe for their own protection.  Each family was given the same brief information we were.  Basic knowledge of the situation, as well as what we had to cover up about your past to keep you safe.  One thing that definitely needed changed was your birthday and name.  The key factor that followers of Voldemort would be looking for were babies born on July 31, 1980.  All papers of your birth, christening, and other things that happened before the incident, were incinerated along with the papers of all the other children.  We kept your first name, however, in honor of your parents.  They didn't deserve the fate they received, so we wanted a least a small legacy to be left for them.  Other then that, however, we were told to pretend we were purely muggle people, and not mention magic in the tiniest bit until your Hogwarts acceptance letter came in the mail.  This brings us pretty much up to today.  That's all we know.  We don't know who the other children were, nor is there a way for us to find out.  Something, however, wanted YOU to find out.  Maybe the four powers are realizing that this is the time that they need to become activated to finally defeat Voldemort once and for all.  

Hermione sat in her chair, her head spinning with all this new information.  _Her, an heir to all the powers of Rowena Ravenclaw?  She had always assumed that Harry was Godric's heir, seeing as he had pulled his sword out of the sorting hat.  This was a lot to take in at one time.  Who could the other two children be?   _

Her parents looked on anxiously as she sat there with an unreadable expression on her face.  Suddenly, Emma spoke up with a bit of trepidation in her voice.  "You don't…hate…us, do you dear?  You have to understand, we did this with only your best interest in mind.  You were being tracked down by deatheaters, had no one to care for you at such a young age, and we wanted a child to love.  You have to know that it wasn't all lies.  You are our daughter in all the ways that truly count."

Hermione snapped out of her seeming trance at these words.  She jumped out of her chair and pulled her parents in to a big hug.  Tearfully, she said "Of course mum and dad.  I understand.  How could I blame you for something like this?  You're my parents, no matter what my DNA may say.  I only wish Harry had had people like you to raise him after all this happened.  Maybe everything has a purpose though.  He is stronger after putting up with them for so long, as well as it being better he didn't know about his fame, or it might have gone to his head.  I just wish I knew who the other two people were.  I bet Dumbledore is going to want to know about this."  

~~~

Narcissa Malfoy paced around her bedroom nervously.  The time was near; she could feel it in the air.  Dumbledore had contacted her just yesterday with three simple words in his letter:  _It is time_.  She knew she'd been living on borrowed time ever since that fateful night when Voldemort went after the Potter's and failed.  She'd had no choice though…if Voldemort knew her son was one of the four, he would have been killed just like the other three were supposed to be.  If Dumbledore was preparing her for the worst, then that meant that it was only a matter of time before the memory charm placed on Lucius would fail to work, and he would realize that his son was born on July 31, and not January 13, like she had made him believe.  She only hoped that it lasted long enough for her to somehow get her son to realize his destiny.  Deciding that this is what she had to do, she packed up a few clothes and left a note for Lucius saying that she was going to spend a few days at a spa in France.  Hoping that he would believe her, and not try to track her down since she did this quite often, she grabbed her wand and Apparated to Diagon Alley, all the while praying for a miracle.

_And that's chapter 3 folks!  Please review and give me your opinions, because it helps me to be more confident in the direction this story is going.  Thanks :)  As always, I'm still looking for a Beta reader.  If interested, please email me at Buffysummers168@yahoo.com  Thanks!_


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